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Sweet rationing in Britain
For more than ten years, a British child's sweets were counted out in ounces and coupons. Here is how sweet rationing worked, why ending it in 1949 went wrong, and how it finally finished in 1953.
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Rationing came to Britain early in the Second World War. Petrol was controlled from September 1939, and on 8 January 1940 bacon, butter and sugar were rationed. Sweets and chocolate, which depend on sugar, followed on 26 July 1942.
How much?
The first sweet ration was 2 oz a week, about 60 g, roughly half of a traditional quarter pound bag: see what is a quarter of sweets? A month later the ration was doubled for eight weeks, then cut to 3 oz, about 90 g, a week.
Sweets needed ration coupons, and families found ways to stretch them. The Woolworths Museum, which records the history of the old Woolworths shops, notes that adults, particularly pensioners, handed over their coupons for the little ones, and that the start of sweet rationing brought long queues at Woolworths pick and mix counters: see Woolworths pick and mix, the story
The false start of 1949
The war ended in 1945, but rationing did not. When sweets were finally taken off ration on 24 April 1949, while sugar was still rationed, there was a rush on sweet shops, and stocks ran short. On 14 July 1949 the government announced that sweet rationing would return, and from 14 August it was back, at 4 oz a week.
At the time, the return of rationing was presented as necessary to feed people in parts of Europe under British control, whose economies had been wrecked by the fighting. That was only part of the story. With many men still in the armed forces, an austere economy and less help from the United States, there was not enough food to go round, and strikes, especially by dock workers, made things worse.
The end, in 1953
Sweet rationing finally ended in February 1953. On 4 February, the Minister of Food announced that the rationing and price control of chocolate and sugar confectionery ended that day. Contemporary newspapers, collected by the food history site CooksInfo, suggest the expected rush was muted, with one report calling the assault on the sweet shops a damp squib.
Sugar itself stayed rationed until September 1953, and food rationing in Britain did not end completely until 1954.
Sweets in wartime
For the sweets people did get during the war, and what they missed, see sweets in wartime Britain
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For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
Free to cite, quote, and reuse with attribution to sweeties.net.
Questions and answers
When was sweet rationing in Britain?
Sweets and chocolate were rationed from 26 July 1942. They came off ration in April 1949, but demand was so great that rationing returned that August, and it finally ended in February 1953, nearly eight years after the war.
How many sweets did you get on the ration?
The first ration in 1942 was 2 oz a week, about 60 g. It was doubled for eight weeks a month later, then cut to 3 oz a week, and when rationing returned in 1949 it was set at 4 oz a week.
Why did sweet rationing return in 1949?
When sweets were taken off ration in April 1949, while sugar was still rationed, there was a rush on sweet shops and stocks could not keep up. Rationing was brought back in August 1949 and lasted until 1953.
Sources
- Rationing in the United Kingdom, Wikipedia
- Sweet rationing ends in the United Kingdom, CooksInfo
- Sweet rationing during World War II, Woolworths Museum
Keep reading
- History and originsSweets in wartime BritainIn both world wars Britain's sweets went short. Factories made aircraft parts, Kit Kat went blue and bomber crews were given Fry's Chocolate Cream.
- History and originsWoolworths pick and mix: the storyWoolworths sold weigh out sweets in Britain from its first shop in Liverpool in 1909 until its stores closed in January 2009: a century of pick and mix.
- Questions people askWhat is a quarter of sweets?A quarter of sweets is a quarter of a pound, 4 ounces or about 113 g. Loose sweets have been sold in metric since 2000, which led to the Metric Martyrs row.
- History and originsA short history of sweets in BritainFrom medieval comfits to the Woolworths counter: a timeline of sweets in Britain, taking in sugar, Victorian boiled sweets, chocolate bars and rationing.
- History and originsThe history of the sweet shopBritain's sweet shops grew from confectioners' glass jars and Victorian street sellers to Woolworths counters, and a revival of old style shops since 2004.
- History and originsThe history of pick and mixPick and mix grew from sweets weighed out of jars by the quarter. Woolworths made it a British high street habit, and Sweden gave the world candy walls.